Baseball Clinches State Tourney Berth

Mustangs in Play-offs for First Time Since 2001

– Allison Goldsberry

The Medford Mustang baseball team stamped their ticket for some post-season action in the state tournament with an 8-3 victory over Woburn at Playstead Park’s Bill Monbouquette Field Wednesday afternoon.

The Mustangs clinched their emotional tenth win of the season against a team they beat back in April, with senior Shaun O’Brien getting the win for Medford on the mound in both games. Ironically enough, the score was the same for both games; 8-3.

O’Brien was stellar on the mound, striking out six total and tossing two key strikes in the seventh inning to shut down a late rally by Woburn.

Offensively the Mustangs showed they know a thing or two about swinging the bats, especially aluminum ones, which they used in today’s non-league game. They also racked up a total of four stolen bases, two of them by speedy sophomore catcher Danny Gunn.

Medford started it off 2-0 in the first inning with RBI singles by senior captain Ben Waldrip and sophomore Ian Fitzgerald. The Mustangs were then up 4-0 in the second after an RBI double by Gunn and a run walked in after senior Rich Miller was hit by a pitch.

A huge four-run sixth inning lifted the Mustangs over Woburn, 8-1. Sophomore Greg Wilson got it started with a base hit, followed by three successive walks by Gunn, O’Brien, and Waldrip, who was hit by a pitch to walk in a run. A sacrifice fly to left field by Miller brought in another run, followed by a double slammed to right field by senior David Milner that brough in two runs but caught Milner at third.

The Medford high baseball team has not been in the state tournament since 2001, when Head Coach Nick Tucci was a star pitcher for the team. Tucci, in his first year as head coach, set reaching the state tournament as a goal at the beginning of the season and presented it to his team in a simple way- all they needed to do was work hard to get ten wins.

“It was a terrific goal to set the first year on the job. It’s been a long seven years,” said Tucci.

“I’m very proud of what these guys accomplished. It was pretty special to accomplish that in the first year,” Tucci continued.

Assistant Coach Mike Nestor, who coached Tucci while he was a Mustang, praised Tucci for all of the effort he put into helping the team reach the state tournament.

“He worked his ass off to get the team ready!” Said Nestor, who has been coaching the team for nine years.

The victory is especially sweet for the team’s five seniors, Waldrip, Miller, O’Brien, Milner, and Shawn Foley, who will all play in their first state tournament.

“It’s time. We put in all the hard work this year…We worked real hard. We really deserve it,” said Waldrip.

Tucci praised Waldrip for his leadership and work ethic throughout the season.

“He’s a guy that’s led our team…He’s the best captain a coach could ever ask for,” said Tucci.

Today’s win gives the Mustangs, 10-8, some breathing room heading into a tournament this weekend against Malden Catholic, Arlington Catholic, and Arlington, but the Mustangs have every intention of winning their last two remaining games of the regular season before heading into the state tournament in the middle of next week. Medford takes on Malden Catholic, one of the top teams in the state, at 1:30PM at Spy Pond field in Arlington on Saturday and then faces either AC or Arlington on Sunday to close out their regular season.

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Watch a post-game interview with Coach Tucci and senior captain Ben Waldrip, courtesy of MHS-TV 15